AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Annalong? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. The harm starts once it's pulled through your pump — it won't burn, and it will not combine with diesel. In Annalong, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Your next steps straight away, Annalong: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do these:
- Remove your keys, and that prevents someone switching the power on.
- Put the hazards on if you're anywhere close to moving traffic.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Tell us a postcode starting BT34 4, or whichever street lies closest, and the van reaches you directly — so ring wherever you are.
Do not do these:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to shift the vehicle.
- Your ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start the pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way down B7041.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the roadside.
At a forecourt around Annalong, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Stopped on your own drive? Then it remains just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, where it cleans the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after poured in, will not. The behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Killowen last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and tiny passages; and, since it attacks certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it stays in there. Where the AdBlue is in the pipework, waiting till morning in Annalong leaves things worse. In your tank only, waiting does nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and each injector depend on diesel flowing through them, so the water part harms them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is frequently worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the another forecourt nearby, and this problem is thinned fuel. No harm is done while it stays put, mixed into the diesel — only when your motor runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Deposits and corrosion stay after the next tankful, and AdBlue separates back from your diesel, and so thinning it can't help. Hence the flush matters more, and trying the engine "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other slip — in Bryansford or the centre of Annalong equally.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Wherever in County Down your car has come to rest, an unstarted motor means the AdBlue yet inside the reservoir: the easiest bit of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Annalong: how it ends up there
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then under one flap — may appear the same. No one intends it; plenty of layouts allow it. A container picked up while heading home and poured in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the usual route.
A couple of familiar ways cover the majority of them. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside the local primary school. Close to B7065, someone tips a bottle in at home after work. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap tops up the vehicle in dim light, stopped in the car park outside the pub in the village.
It comes up the most in a hire car, a new motor, a company vehicle, or the other vehicle of a home with one of each fuels — the vehicles people know least. An identical mistake, an identical first step — leave it off — anywhere you happen to be around Annalong or the rest of County Down.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Annalong?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Your filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and some running time carries it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each may show up, perhaps midway across Annalong or coming back from the green space at the edge of the village. Once you safely can, pull over then switch everything off — without turning it on again to see. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Exit the M55, over 50 miles from Annalong, by the next junction and park safely, not carrying on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Annalong to the car park by the centre is a very different job from a run towards Newry, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the engine has been started, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the car has ended up. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage when it's spotted quickly.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Annalong
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that is a road near a street just off the centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt around Annalong, and the van travels to it. Three replies decide the work, and so first our engineers ask which fluid went in, about the amount, and if the engine has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together after that tank is drained, right there. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush counts: the whole system is cleaned all the way through since residue will not flush away by itself. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Engine not run? In that case count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Clean diesel goes in to bleed your system, and that's the last step. You head off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive around Annalong or in a bay at the nearest station. Our engineers check it runs properly on fresh diesel before leaving. No garage is required at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Annalong itself
Annalong is a coastal locality in County Down, Northern Ireland, situated near the towns of Kilkeel and Newry. Annalong has a population of around 1539 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Annalong sits at an elevation of 21 metres, overlooking the coastline of Northern Ireland. Annalong is part of a network of small settlements and villages in the region, including Atticall and Dunnaval.
Annalong and County Down: AdBlue drains across the area
Over the BT postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs in Annalong reach much of County Down too, Kilkeel, Atticall and Dunnaval included. Guessing won't help by a border or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
Anywhere the car stands — a drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — our engineers drain it there, with no need to take it to us; that suits Annalong, a coastal area, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Annalong: the cost of fixing it
Because each jobs vary, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. What changes the cost is, first, whether your engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and finally where the vehicle is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind the far end of the built-up part.
For that reason, each call from Annalong begins by asking the identical trio — which fluid was put in, how much, whether the engine ran — before any figure. Given them, a range shrinks to one firm figure.
Quoted by phone before the engineer heads out, the job is settled on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. While our engineer is on the way, dig out your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
Annalong: still next to your car?
Then, touch nothing — that's the best step there is. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus if it ran are everything our technicians ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across County Down, Annalong too.